Virat Kohli is one of the bests India has ever produced, needs one good inning to get his form: Deep Dasgupta

Experts, including World Cup-winning captain Kapil Dev and former England skipper Michael Vaughan, have spoken about Kohli’s prolonged lean patch. While Kapil said players can’t be picked on reputation and one has to go by current form, Vaughan feels Kohli needs a three-month sabbatical from the game.

But former India wicketkeeper-batsman Deep Dasgupta has backed Kohli saying the Delhi cricketer requires just one good knock to find his form back.

Speaking on Jagran TV, Dasgupta claimed the former skipper has been getting out in an unlucky fashion despite starting off well.

“Ooth pa baithe aadmi ko bhi kutta kaat leta hai (A man who is sitting on a camel could also get bitten by a dog)… Virat is going through a tough period. Take yesterday’s example, his flick, the straight drive was just unbelievable! Whenever he is playing, it does not look like he is out of form. I don’t feel he played a bad shot yesterday, maybe it was just his luck,” the cricketer-turned-commentator said.

“In T20s, you need to take a risk… sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, but Virat is batting beautifully. Although questions are being raised about his form, I believe he just needs one good inning to return back to form. Virat is one of the bests India has ever produced. There’s no doubt about it,” he added further.

After the conclusion of the T20I series, current India captain Rohit Sharma also his predecessor and added that everyone goes through ups and downs and a player’s quality does not get affected.

“When a player is doing well for so many years, then one or two bad series does not make him a bad player. We should not overlook his past performances. We who are in the team know the importance of the player. They have got all the right to talk about it but it does not matter for us too much.”

Kohli has 70 international hundreds to his name, only behind Ricky Ponting (71) and Sachin Tendulkar (100) in the game and Rohit feels the star batter’s quality can’t be questioned.

Interacting with media persons after the third T20I against England – which Team India lost by 17 runs – Rohit said, “…If you are talking about form, it goes up and down for everyone. The quality of the player doesn’t go bad. We should always keep in mind when such comments are passed around. We’re backing that quality.”

“It’s happened with me, it’s happened with XYZ. There’s nothing new. When a player has done well so consistently, then 1-2 bad series, his contribution shouldn’t be forgotten. “It might take time for some to understand. But for us, inside and running the team, we know the importance. I’ll request those on the outside, yes you have all the right to talk about it, but for us, it doesn’t matter a lot,” the Mumbaikar added further.